The Soul
by ShandiG
Summary: A fan fiction for what happens next after The Host: Wanda meets another group of humans who travel with soul who has "gone native." The two groups combine forces in a raid when Jamie gets sick. When the raid goes wrong, Ian makes a decision initiating a series of events that threatens to tear him and Wanda apart as well as endanger the entire cave.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

We met them at the rockslide, the others. They were waiting for us. Other humans. Different from the thirty-five (and two souls) who lived in the Picacho caves.

"Where were you going?" Nate asked.

"We had planned a raid and we're still going." Jared said.

"We could go, too." Nate offered.

Neither party was willing to reveal their hideout yet, even to other humans. Who knew what could happen.

"We did just get back from a raid but most of the stuff will keep. It will be a good opportunity for us to get to know each other. Where were you planning on going?"

"North, we were planning to put some distance from here and plan a substantial raid." Jared returned.

I hung back, shy, not ready to talk to the newcomers, my eyes lifting up to watch Burns every once in a while.

Ian watched me. "Missing your own kind?" Ian asked jealously.

"I was just thinking about how I thought I was so unique, then Sunny came along and now Burns."

We drove back to the caves with our new friends, another group of humans and one renegade soul in the late hours of the night. I looked over at Ian as he looked back me and smiled. He took my hand as I thought about the last night on our raid, before we met the other rebels.

Our group had spent the night in the desert this night. I laid a blanket down on the ground, a few feet away from our friends on the raid to get a small amount of privacy. We did not make a fire, there was too much of a chance that would draw unwanted visitors, of the civilized type.

Ian laid down beside me and snuggled up to me. "Hey," he whispered, "I wanted to show you something. On the raid, I got some batteries. We rarely use batteries for anything other than an absolute necessity, like flashlights but I kept a couple for us." He looked a little chagrined. "Do you like music?" Ian looked at me intently for an answer as a rolled over to talk to him.

"Well, yes. I used to listen to the radio sometimes at my old apartment in San Diego." I looked at him curiously wanting to know why music would have him looking so intense.

"The radio," he whispered excitedly, "So you haven't heard _human _music then?" I knew what he meant, just like the TV shows, human music was phased out for the more tame music made by souls.

"No," I shook my head and smiled and guessed this was why he looked so excited.

"Great!" Ian exclaimed in his hushed voice. He pulled out a small device, an MP3 player, and began clicking buttons on it. He scooted closer beside me and handed me one of the headphones, he took the other one.

"This is about some music?" I asked mystified.

"I remembered a song. It makes me think of you. I had it on my MP3 player but I didn't have any batteries to play it until now. This song feels like how I feel about you. Here lay back and listen." He looked a little embarrassed, "I guess this is kind of high school but I really wanted you to show you in some way how I feel about you. I thought if you heard the song, you might be able to understand what I was feeling."

We both laid back on the blanket and listened to the song. Ian looked at me nervously. Instantly, I was drawn into the raw emotional quality of the song. It kind of reminded me of my first day with Melanie as a host because of the surprising and sharp qualities of the emotions. But the tone was all Ian. The song was rough, romantic, wistful, a little messy, and intense. I really liked it. It wasn't like anything I'd heard before.

"This isn't anything like what I've heard on the radio. I mean, some of the sounds are close but it has such a different _feeling._ I really liked it. Thank you for sharing it with me, Ian." I sighed and stared up at the stars.

I can feel my eyes unfocus as my mind begins to wander. Ian turns to me and asks quietly, "What are you thinking about, Wanda?"

I turn my head to the side to look at him and whisper back, "I was thinking about what you said about high school, I was thinking that I'd never been to high school or any other human school and that made me think…Well, you know what my life was like before I met you. I was wondering what your life was like before your met me. What was your life like before we came here? Before you had even heard of us souls? Before you had to come here and live in the tunnels?"

"Oh," Ian murmured, "Yeah, I guess we never have talked about that. Well, I went into hiding about six years ago with Kyle. We were in college together, just getting ready to graduate. Kyle's Jodi went missing shortly after the rumors started. He was frantic and tried to find her. He couldn't. At about that time, my girlfriend, Natalie, brought Seekers to the boys dorms. Kyle and I fled shortly after that."

I started to squirm. I was not expecting this. _A girlfriend? _Did he feel the same way that Kyle felt about Jodi? Would he want to bring her back here like Kyle did with Sunny, the soul who lived inside of Jodi's body? I looked down. He was already used to being with a body that was inhabited by a soul. Maybe he wouldn't mind seeing Natalie's body again even though it was a soul that animated and controlled it.

"Do you still think about her?" I asked, feeling anguished.

Ian looked at me strangely, "Well, yes sometimes. It did make an impression on me. Why? Does this bother you?"

"I…" I thought about lying. But, I'm a terrible liar, I should just get it out, " I was wondering… if you wanted to bring her back here,… like Kyle and Sunny. I would understand if you felt that way." I would understand. I would also break into a million pieces without even having given myself to motherhood. Of all the lives that I have lived and all the experience that I had gained, I would not even be able to bring myself to give myself to the next generation and splitting myself into a million different offspring. No offspring, I would just break, shatter.

"It's not like that. I felt terrible about the whole thing but Natalie was never to me as Jodi was to Kyle. It changed him so much."

"You can't really believe that can you. What about you, you told me you never got close to one of the other souls. What if you got close to say burns and wanted to partner with him? You're everything to me. It wouldn't matter if Natalie miraculously appeared to me as a human. I don't feel for her as I feel for you." Ian swore. "I've never met anyone like you, Wanda, human or otherwise and I'm not about to let you go."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up something upsetting. I'm glad that I know, though."

Ian took my hand, "What else do you want to know? I'll tell you anything." He bought my hand to his cheek as he spoke. I could feel the hairs on the back of my arm stand up from his breath. He brushed my hand slowly across his lips. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the sensation. "I love you," he breathed as he leaned in to kiss me.

This was so much better than any life before. I lost my breath as Ian crushed my body to his. My whole body was tingling as he pulled back and looked at me. It almost like he was gauging something. He sighed and kissed me again and pulled my head so his chest. He ran his hands over my arms and I fell asleep with his lips pressed to my forehead under the clear desert sky.

I let the last of that memory fade away as I looked at Ian again. Another memory from a few nights ago popped in my head.

I remembered talking to Ian after I was inserted into my host. I told him that I was so happy that I had found someone like him, someone who could look at me, and not just my host, and find something in a soul to love.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Upon meeting the other rebels, we decided to bring them back to the tunnels and introduce them to our "cell". It was dangerous having so many people know where we were in hiding, especially people who did not live with us. Nate's group agreed to be blindfolded before we took them to our caves. Nate explained that the other cells had the same arrangement. Burns was the only one who knew where all of the other cells were because he was not vulnerable to the same risks as the humans were. This is because Burns, like me, was a soul inside of a human. The humans could be sure of us, they could not be sure of another soul that would be placed in any soul-less human upon capture.

Our guests scrambled across the desert with us guiding them. We did not agree to Burns being able to see the way to our caves, at least not yet. This was still so new. As exciting as the news of more humans was, they humans were not ready to relinquish the secret and security of our hideout.

I walked beside Ian who was guiding Burns. Jared was guiding Nate and each of the other rebels was guided by someone else in our party. I knew no one would let me try to guide one of our new friends, if the person stumbled, we would both go down. This small body would be no good for helping to steady another person, not to mention a blindfolded person.

Jamie was one of the first people to greet us at the caves. I could hear him talking anxiously to Jeb, "Did they bring back more souls?"

No one would have expected that we would be bringing back humans.

We got into the mouth of the cave and lead our guests inside, where we removed their blindfolds.

"Sorry about that," Jared said as he removed Nate's blindfold. Everyone followed his example and helped the other rebels with their blindfolds. I heard a few of the Picacho residents gasp.

"Humans!" Jamie exclaimed, "Where did you find them?" Jamie asked.

"They actually found us. We were hoping that you wouldn't mind them coming to visit," Jared said as his eyes found Jeb.

"Course not," Jeb answered, " 'S not everyday that you stumble upon other humans." Jeb reached out and took Nate's hand, "My name is Jeb. These here tunnels belong to me and I'd be glad to have you visit." I did hear the slight emphasis that Jeb placed on the word _visit._ I could understand, there were a lot of people living in the tunnels already. "Well, come on in," he continued, "Let me show you in and we can make introductions and get better acquainted.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It was already late but the supplies had to be unloaded before everyone could congregate with our guests. Some of the others unloaded the truck as Jamie and I led our guests down to the main gallery. Jeb brought some of the perishables to the room with us and the other rebels, so we could talk over some food.

Jeb told the newcomers about 'our little community' and Nate talked about the other rebel cells. Everyone was still a little shy and the two groups were feeling each other out. That was all about to change, with Nate's housewarming gift.

"We've got a little something to contribute as well," Nate said as the food was being passed around. One of the other rebels handed Nate a bottle of some liquid that Nate then passed on to Jeb.

"Ah, rum." Jeb sighed appreciatively. "It's been awhile since we've had something like that. Usually these guys just bring back brandy. Well, I'm not going to be shy here with this." Jeb cracked the bottle open as some of the others looked at him expectantly. Jeb took a swig and handed it back to Nate. Nate took a swig then one of the other rebels brought out another bottle, took a swig himself and passed that bottle around as well.

I could see Burns eyeing me curiously while Nate was telling Jeb his story. I could feel Ian's body beside mine stiffen whenever I noticed Burns looking at me. I guess Ian noticed, too.

Burns wasn't the only one looking at me holding hands with Ian. The other rebels would occasionally begin to stare at us.

There was a lot to tell and I could tell Jeb would want to make this entertainment last a little while. He would make sure all of the exchange in information was in the form of a story, this wasn't just information for him, this was entertainment for the people of the tunnels. Sunny and Kyle joined the rest of us in the main tunnel. Burns caught sight of them and leaned over to Nate to whisper something in his ear while Jeb was speaking. Nate raised his eyebrows and waited for Jeb to finish speaking.

"So you never did tell us, Jeb. How did it come to pass that your little community was joined by two souls." Ian let go of my hand and instead wrapped that arm around my body and pulled me close. Was this because he was trying to protect me in some way, or because of something else…Jealousy? "I thought us unique for having just Burns here as a friend." Nate grinned ruefully at Jeb and Burns. At his point, the staring was split between us two couples and I started to relax a little. It must have been quite a shock to see not just one couple made up of a human and a soul but two of them. It must have been even stranger that the two human men were brothers.

"Well, that there is a long story but we can tell a little bit of it tonight, I 'spose." Jeb began. I began to feel nervous as the story began to turn to me. "Well, Wanda and my niece, Melanie, were real close," Jeb started, I noticed that he didn't elaborate on the situation and it seemed that the other humans didn't suspect what Uncle Jeb actually meant; That Melanie was my former host. Since these new humans hadn't made the same promise not to hurt my kind, I did not want them knowing about how to remove a soul from a host. "Wanda and Melanie were really close friends and Melanie brought Wanda here a couple of months ago. Kyle, here, brought Sunny back and she's been here since." The other rebels gasped and looked at us incredulously. Jeb had a gleaming look in his eye as though he expected this response and was relishing it. He had probably wanted the chance to tell it to another group of humans for awhile.

Melanie walked to my side and sat down beside me. She smiled at me in a comforting way and took the hand that Ian was not already holding while Uncle Jeb continued to speak.

Jeb continued, "And Sunny here, well, Kyle found her. He was looking for his old girlfriend, Jodi, and found Sunny. They're been pretty happy ever since, I would say." Sunny and Kyle were sitting, Sunny had her arms wrapped around Kyle and was molded to his side. Kyle had a look that was a strange mixture of gentleness and forebearance. I can't help but think that Sunny managed to tame the beast. Kyle was kind of a monstrous pig before he brought Sunny back, completely different from Ian. I had the image in my head of one of the flowers taming a Fire-taster. I stole a glance at Burns after having thought about the Fire Planet.

Stories were told late into the night with some of us falling asleep in the main hall. The Nate and his group were shown to the game room to sleep. There weren't enough single rooms for the other group to sleep, so the game room ended up being the best place to house the other group. Spare blankets were loaned to the visitors to use while they were in the tunnels with us.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I awoke as Ian carried me to our room. He had been one of the people to enjoy Nate's contribution and was a little wobbly due to it. I had never before seen the firsthand effects of humans imbibing alcohol. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, but throughout the night the ones who were participating in the drinking were getting a little rowdy and seemingly less coordinated.

I asked Ian to set me down because I was concerned that he might fall down with me in his arms. Ian wrapped his arms around me as we walked into our room, bending down to rub his face into my hair and kiss my neck. I was feeling disarmed with the more forward way he was acting with me. _Was this because of the rum? _I thought.

"So…" Ian began. I looked at Ian. "I noticed Burns couldn't take his eyes off of you." My eyes widened, _so he _had _noticed!_

I answered, "Burns was looking at the both of us and then at Sunny and Kyle. I know our kind of relationship is strange to humans but it is also strange to one of us. Our partnerships usually take place between souls, no surprise, right?" I hesitated, not wanting to tell Ian the entire reason because it would upset him, "It would be very surprising, that's all." I could imagine that he could hear me holding something back but he didn't push me about it. I didn't want to tell Ian that when a soul's partner dies the final death, it is fatal to the dead soul's partner, too. As a soul, Burns would have found it to be very upsetting that I would be in this situation because as a soul who could live for many thousands of years, I had partnered with a human who only would live a tiny fraction of that time and be gone. Then I would be gone. He was looking at me almost like he was sad for me. We were both quiet for a moment.

"Hey, I love you. You know that, right?" Ian breathed into my ear. It kind of tickled and made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.

"Yes, of course," I said as relaxed into my arms, "And you know that I feel the same way about you, too?"

"Yeah…but you're sure that you wouldn't be more interested in someone like Burns? He is a soul and he is living the same kind of …lifestyle as you have taken up." Ian's voice was slightly slurring.

"No, you're the only one I want." I ran my fingers over Ian's face imagining how it would look right now. It was really too dark to see at the moment.

Ian seemed to take what I said as some kind of a cue. He kissed me hard and ran his hands all over my body in a way that was new to me, setting my entire body on fire. I was feeling overwhelmed in a way that I hadn't felt since I had kissed Jared for one of the last times. I think that I would have really appreciated it more if I wasn't worried about him acting this way because he was drunk. Ian pulled my shirt over my head and ripped it the rest of the way off. He had never acted this way before. What was he doing? From Melanie's memories, I could see where this was leading. I gasped.

I pulled back, "Ian, Ian, what are you doing? You never act like this. Are you doing this because you've been drinking?"

Ian kissed me and moaned, "No, I'd doing this because I love you. Because we're meant to be together. I've wanted to do this for so long. Say you feel the same way." He crushed his body to mine and kissed my stomach.

"Ian, yes but why now?" Ian continued working at my clothes. "Ian, please stop. I don't…I don't feel comfortable with the way you are acting under these circumstances."

Ian pulled back and ran his fingers through his hair, "I'm sorry, Wanda. Did I hurt you?" he agonized.

"No, just… let's try this again a little later," I suggested.

I tugged my shirt on as Ian sighed and laid back on the mattress. "I would never hurt you, Wanda. I'm sorry, I love you." Ian mumbled and rolled over to fall asleep on me, with his head on my chest.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Sunlight filtered through the roof of our room in the tunnel system as I awoke. Still sprawled over me was Ian, snoring softly. My hand reached up to fun my fingers through his dark hair. I sighed as I thought about the night before. I tried to gently wake Ian, "Ian, Ian? Wake up." He groaned and rolled over. _Maybe I was right about the alcohol. _ I thought. I decided to let Ian sleep and get up to begin my chores.

I changed into my usual clothing that I usually wore around the caves for chores. The clothes that I had worn last night were the clothes that I had returned from the raid in and they were considerably nicer than what I put on. I had to wear nicer clothing out on a raid because no one in the civilized world of the souls dressed like this. I threw on a worn pair of jeans and a threadbare T shirt and walked to the kitchen to find some food.

A few people were stirring but most of them were not awake yet. If everyone was generally feeling like what I observed Ian to be feeling, then I would be one of the only people awake besides the children.

I peeked into the game room as I made my way to the kitchen so see how the other rebels were doing. The room looked like a tornado had blown through and thrown bodies all around. The only one up was Burns who saw me as a peeked in. He jumped up when he saw me and quietly made his way out to the tunnel passageway. "Hey," he said and nodded to his group, "I guess it will be a rough morning for the humans, huh?"

"Yes, I…" I wasn't sure what to say, I was still feeling a little off guard by Ian's behavior last night and I blushed. "I've never been around humans in that kind of a state before."

"It's still a little unnerving for me. It's really alright unless they start fighting."

"Fighting?"

"Sometimes… Everyone is still asleep and I'm getting a little restless. Would you mind if I accompanied you to where you are going?" Burns asked.

"No, I don't mind. I'm going to the kitchen. Are you hungry?" I asked as Burns followed me into the kitchen.

"Sure."

"This is quite a place that your group has here. " Burns said.

"What is it like where you are staying? Do you stay with the humans all the time?"

Burns looked at me and asked, "Don't you?" he paused a second to look at me and continued, "I mostly stay with Nate's cell but I make my way between cells. The other rebels know me and keep a place for me to stay. I live with the communities and take the humans between the different cells. Only I know the location of all of the cells, excluding this one, of course."

"Oh," I said, thinking about his story.

"The dark haired human beside you," Burns said as he looked at me, "He is your partner?" Burns eyed me quizzically.

I began to feel some of the heat of anger in myself and my cheeks began to flush. "Yes, he is."

Just then Ian walked into the kitchen looking a little bewildered and his hair stuck up crazily. His eyes found mine and began, "Wanda, there you are. You aren't mad at me are you? I'm really sorry about last night. I'll make it up to you, I swear!" He looked over and saw Burns and looked a little embarrassed but quickly recovered, "Oh, hi," he reached out one of his hands, "You're Burns right?"

Burns gave me a knowing look. _I guess his behavior was a pretty common human behavior after drinking._ "Yes, I am called Burns. You're Ian, right? Wanda's _partner_?"

Ian put his arm around me possessively, "Yes, that's right."

Frantic voices echoed up to us from the southern tunnel. They were garbled at first. I walked toward the sound. I heard Melanie's voice, "Is he okay? What is wrong with Jamie?"

_Jamie!_ My body had locked up. I forced it to respond to my will again then I ran toward the voices toward the southern tunnels, away from where Ian and Burns were standing, and through the door of the hospital. "Jamie, where is he?" I breathed.

Jamie is lying on the hospital cot, pale and drawn. Holding his hand is Melanie while Doc worked over him. Jared stood up as though he was just the one to lay Jamie down.

Ian and Burns caught up to me as a dashed into the hospital room.

"I think his condition has stabilized, for now." Doc said.

I went to Jamie's other side, a smaller, paler mirror of Melanie, to take Jamie's other hand. I saw Burns give me a curious look.

"What happened?" I breathed but no one seems to hear my question.

"What do you mean? Will Jamie be okay?" Melanie demanded in response to what Doc had just said.

Doc looked at Melanie with a confident bedside manner that was rapidly fading to hopelessness. He sighed, "I think he has diabetes. He needs insulin but there is no insulin anymore. I don't know how to help him. The souls no not use our medicines. I don't even know if I've heard of any souls with diabetes. He is fine for now. He should be able to get up soon."

Doc paused a minute, "But he will need treatment. This condition, if left untreated will kill him, eventually. I don't know what to do. Is there anything that we can raid from another healing facility, like what we did for Jamie's infection, Wanda?"

Candy, the former host of the Healer, Summer Song, blurted, "No, any potential host would have been cured of diabetes at one of the specialized healing and insertion sites. No host would be used for insertion in that condition. They would have been immediately healed, before a soul would make it a home. We won't find any human medicine. We will not find any soul medicine to treat diabetes in a normal healing facility. That kind of condition would not exist in a host's body. There is no medicine that we can get to treat Jamie."

"She's right."

"What do we do, then?" Melanie growled.

"We go to one of the other Healing facilities." Burns calmly said, "I know how to get to one of them."

Nate, the leader of the other rebel cell that we met, chimed in, "Yeah, old Burns here knows how to get in. He will often get in to find us things that we need. But we've never had to bring a human in there, what's more a group of humans. But if anyone can do it Burns can." Nate slaps Burns on the shoulder.

"Yes, but they are in the middle of a city, in the middle of a soul civilization." I interject.

"How do we even get there? How do we get the healing equipment back here after we get in?" Ian inquired.

"The equipment cannot be brought here. It needs power and a lot of it. We can barely power flashlights here. The equipment is also calibrated to very stringent specifications, the machine cannot be moved without disrupting the calibration of the equipment and making the equipment unstable and dangerous to use." Candy shook her head.

Burns looked confident, "I can get us to one of them. We bring Jamie along with us and treat him at the facility."

Melanie jumped up, her eyes lit on fire, "Let's do this then. We'll plan a raid. Jared?"

Jared eyed Burns up and down warily, "Let's do this."

I jumped up from Jamie's side, "I want to help! I want to go, too!"

Ian came to my side, "No, Wanda. You might get hurt."

"Two souls are better than one in this case. We'll have a better chance of getting Jamie into that facility and getting everyone out safely. You need me. If there was ever a reason to bring me along on a raid, this is it!"

Jared contemplated a second, "You know she's right. Wanda should come with us."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Night falls, we are all on foot.

Burns begins to tell us about some of the things that he has seen, "You are probably not aware of this, but at the Healing facility, there are hosts that have been abandoned and are waiting for new souls. It is more common to skip on this planet than others that we have inhabited."

"No, I can imagine," I murmur. Of course, I knew. That about sums up the last year of my life.

Melanie walked up beside me and chuckled, "Yeah, she knows, Burns."

As the words and meaning sunk in, Burns gave me an incredulous look.

We planned how to get Jamie to the special Healing facility with our new friends. We tried to keep the team as small as we could with so many people wanting to go.

Burns and I would go because we would be able to blend in. This could come in handy, sneaking humans into the jaws of civilization. Where I went, Ian went. He would not have it any other way and refused to let me go on without him. Melanie, of course would go with her brother and that meant Jared would go. We needed to expertise of a Healer, so we brought Candy and Doc, too. Doc would want to see this and he could help keep Candy in check. Nate did not want to leave his friend Burns with a bunch of humans that he did not know, who could potentially turn on him, so we went as well. Lastly, of course, Jamie would go on the trip, since we could not bring back the equipment to heal him, we would have to bring him to the equipment. Everyone else had to stay behind.

We continued to plan how we were going to get to the specialized Healing facility. The closest one that we dared to go to was in Phoenix. It would be large enough to have the Whole Body Heal machines that would be used on hosts that were found not to be completely healthy.

We left through the large tunnel exit. The other rebels decided to stay with the rest of our group until we all got back.

"We split into teams, Melanie, Wanda, Candy, Jamie, and Nate go together with Jared. Ian, Burns, and Doc make up the other team and scout ahead."

We get ready to split up. I run to Ian and wrap my arms around him one last time before our brief separation. He gives me one last desperate kiss and lets me go.

I run to follow the rest of our team to the rendezvous site.

"Keep her safe, Jared, "Ian demanded.

"I'll bring them all back safely, "Jared promised as he looked back at Melanie.

Doc, Burns, and Ian scouted ahead on foot. The rest of us stayed together.

We waited for the others to join us at the rendezvous site.

I was beginning to get impatient and start to bounce up and down, "Where are they? They should have been here by now."

Jared looked through the binoculars, "Don't panic, Wanda. We have to be patient. Melanie, Jamie, and I are crouched down on our heels waiting to hear any news from Jared. An hour passes, then two as I get more and more anxious.

"They didn't get hurt did they? They couldn't have. They have to be fine." Melanie gave me a knowing look. I'm only referring to Ian, she knows. I can feel an ache in my chest and my breathing is becoming more difficult. I bring my fist up to my chest as I try to breathe.

Jared's body stiffened, and I saw him lean closer to the object he was viewing in the binoculars.

"Do you see them?" I ask anxiously.

"Yes," he agrees and gives me a look that I don't quite understand. He turns to look back into the binoculars, "Just try to be patient."

The knot in my chest began to loosen the second he said, "Yes."

The other group finally makes their way back to us. I have eyes only for Ian. My eyes trace over his figure as he makes his way around the bend. _Ian! Ian! _I sigh relieved.

The other group approached and I made my way to Ian to greet him after our separation. I see a strange look from Jared as I run toward Ian. I don't care, the caution that is usually so ingrained into my species has been completely tossed away. I run toward Ian with complete abandon.

"Wanda, wait!" Doc said with an emotion that sounded like anguish.

I did not stop until I reached Ian and had buried my head to his chest. "Ian. Ian, I was so worried." I said as a buried my face into his chest. I feel complete again. But something doesn't feel quiet right.

Ian doesn't move. I only notice then that something is wrong. _Where is his gun? _I wonder. I peek towards the side to look at the others at our reunion. The group is somber and there is someone missing.

I notice that Burns is no longer with the group, "Ian what happened? Where is Burns?" I squeak as I pulled back to look up at his face.

My eyes trace a line up Ian's jacket to the features of his face that I have come to love so much. My eyes arrive at Ian's eyes, "No!" I breathe. Ian's eyes show the same reflective silver that I see whenever I have looked at a reflection of myself, whenever I have looked at another soul. "This can't be! What happened? Who are you?" I demand of Ian's body as I back away. I realized that I am not speaking to Ian. Inside Ian's body, the body of the person that I love, is someone else, another soul, someone like me. Someone that any human would think was a parasite.

I realized that Ian never raised his arms to wrap them around me. They hang at his sides limply. This hurts me even though I know it is not actually Ian that I just held.

"Wanda," Doc says as he eased himself between me and Ian's body, "We all have to talk." Doc chokes.

Doc proceeded to tell the rest of us what happened after we were separated.

Seekers spotted the other group and fired on them as they ran away. Ian and Doc got out of the line of fire. However, Burns was hit. They carried Burns away from the confrontation but by the time they could stop, Burns' host was nearly dead.

"There was no way to save him," Doc said, "His host was too far gone. We needed him to get to the rendezvous point. Ian asked that I put Burn's host in his body. It was the only way that we would all be able to get back to you. It was the only way that we could save Burns and save Jamie."

"Ian asked you to do this to him?" I whispered as I looked at Burns in Ian's body. I straightened up, "No, he would never willingly do this."

"Ian did this so that we could finish the mission and save Jamie. Ian knew that you would not leave him in this situation and since he owed Burns his life, he did what he could to save it. We will get Burns a new host. There are other hosts at the Healing facility. Ian will be fine and so will Jamie and so will Burns.

"You purposely put a soul into a human's body?" Jared demanded incredulously.

"It was not my decision to make." Doc defended.

"It's not so bad," Melanie said gently, "We'll get Ian back, right Wanda?"

I was staring at Ian's body and his silver eyes stared at me, when I heard Melanie say my name. It took me a second to comprehend what she said, "Yes, of course."

We all had to take in the situation. No one would have ever considered before today, willingly have a soul in their body, controlling their body and mind and possibly never coming back.

Ian did, though. We had after all of this time of hating and distrusting my kind, volunteered to step aside inside his own mind and body for someone like me. This was a huge leap of faith on his part.

"I know why Ian did this. Don't diminish what he has offered by continuing to argue about his decision. We will heal Jamie and get Burns a new host. Then I will have Ian back. We won't abandon him."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

We continued on foot. Burns walked up beside me, "Thank you, Wanda."

I had a hard time talking for a second. Despite what I said, I missed Ian in a way that felt like grief. I took a deep breath and spoke.

"I just know how Ian thinks, that's all," I looked longingly at Ian's face as I spoke. "How is he?"

Ian's face scrunched up. "This host is very vocal, he's talking inside my head. This must be what those new warnings were about with insertions into an adult human host."

"Good. I want to make sure he's still kicking in there for when I get him back."

"You've removed a soul from a human host before," Burns stated. "No one directly said it but no one was shocked about removing me from this host."

"That host is my partner," I growled.

"Forgive me, I did not mean to upset you and of course I will leave as soon as a new suitable host is available."

Burns and I continued to walk, speaking quietly. I could hear the sand and soft rocks crunch beneath our feet as we walked in the dark. Dawn would be approaching soon. We were almost to where we would make camp, hidden from the sun. We would have to walk quickly to get there before the sun rose.

"I'm surprised he did it," Burns mused, "Not even one of my own friends whom I have known for years would have done this, even had they known there was a way out."

I looked back up at Ian's face and into his eyes where I saw Burns shimmering, "Ian is as kind as any soul I have ever met. He also knows I won't leave him there and now that you are both even, he would expect you remove yourself as soon as you could."

Burns looked at me and confirmed what I had reasoned, "Yes, Ian agrees with your assessment and I of course, will honor the debt."

"So," Burns continued carefully, "Ian is your partner? Your _human _partner?"

"Like I told you before, yes." I snapped, irritated at the situation of Ian's voice asking me these questions making the situation more painful.

"I have considered it myself. However, I could not picture a human wanting to consider me as a partner. I have been among these rebel humans for awhile, away from my own kind, probably never to return to our kind, now."

"Ian is not planning to run away screaming after this is all over, is he?"

"No, this is sort of an opportunity for him to understand what it was like for you and Melanie. He's analyzing the whole experience."

"What was life like for you before you came here, Burns?" I asked Burns a similar question to the one I had asked Ian earlier. I was sure that I would get a very different answer from the same mouth.

Burns ran his fingers through Ian's dark hair beginning to get more comfortable in this host. He had better not be getting too comfortable. I still felt a pang from the gesture, it was something that Ian would do when he was considering his words.

"You can tell I was from the Fire Planet by my name, right?"

"I had reasoned that." I agreed.

Burns continued, "I was born on the Fire Planet and lived there for two lifeterms. I then decided to try something else. The Fire Planet wasn't quite for me. It did not feel like home."

"Say, are you from this planet, Wanda?" Burns asked.

"No, this is my ninth planet. I was born on the Origin."

Burn's head snapped back to look at me. "You? I have heard about you, Wanda. Your traveling is known even on the Fire Planet.


	8. Chapter 8

We walked into the Full Body Heal room of the Healing Facility. It is in a room where surgeons used to work. Now it holds different sized pieces of equipment, some big enough to hold a human lying down. I saw charts on the wall of the different species of the different worlds that I have inhabited and some that I hadn't.

Melanie walked up to one of the backlit charts "What are these?" She turned to look at me, "Wanda, are these diagrams of the different lifeforms that you have lived in? Off of Earth?"

Ian's body stepped up my side to look at the charts, too. "I spent two lifeterms as a Fire-Taster. See here." Burns pointed to the diagram of the host of the Fire Planet.

I still find it so strange to hear about other lives, to hear another's thoughts, through Ian's voice. I feel so sad for Ian. I missed him. I also felt guilty about putting him in this situation. I want to hold Ian's hand but it wouldn't be Ian that I'd be touching, to Ian it would be like watching through a window his partner reach out to another man. It would be like how Melanie felt when Jared kissed me, in his experiment. I flushed at the memory. It had been agony for her and humiliation for me. I look at Jamie and my thoughts quickly changed.

Jamie walked to her side, "Wow, Wanda. It's cooler than I imagined. This is so neat to see. You never lived as a Fire-Taster did you?"

Looking at Jamie again reminded me of the urgency of our mission, "No, I hadn't," I agreed. "but there is no time to talk about this now. Someone might be coming." _And the sooner we're finished here, the sooner I can have Ian back._

Candy, the former host of the Healer closed in and nodded, "I can do this. I still remember all of the healing techniques Summer Song learned. She had learned this back in her training but the techniques still apply."

Jamie stepped forward, "Just tell me what to do, Candy."

_He looks tired, _I thought. I looked at Melanie and saw that she was thinking the same thing. _Poor baby. But he is so big now. I guess he's no longer a child. I guess that he never really was my baby._

Jamie followed Candy toward one of the human sized machines, "Jamie, remove your clothing and step into the bed of the Full Body Heal instrument. We will give you a moment to get undressed." Candy said as she walked around the machine towards the rest of us.

"No it's fine. I'm ready." Jamie was crawling into one of the instruments as Candy turned around and the rest of us crowded in.

"I need some room to operate," Candy held out her arms to get some space, "Now Jamie just try to relax and I will get this started. You might want to close your eyes." Candy apologized as she closed the top part of the clam shell-like device over Jamie's body. The machine began to hum as Candy ran her hands over a control pad beside the machine. It had symbols that none of the other humans would understand. The language was Spider script. "These older pieces of healing equipment are still written in Spider writing," Candy explained to the others. "The Spiders were the ones to perfect the Full Body Heal machines. The newer ones are in the local language of the planet but these work just as well and would not have been discarded just because of the writing. All Healers must learn Spider Script as part of their training if they are to use the more sophisticated pieces of healing equipment rather than just the pharmaceuticals. Summer Song was trained on this equipment and language before she received her calling to the other facility. She had worried that the training had been wasted on her. I guess it wasn't a total waste but I think she might disagree."

We watched Candy continue to operate the piece of equipment and the images on the screens change in color. "Not too much longer now." Candy said. The humming of the machine stopped and Candy opened the lid of the machine to expose Jamie. "Okay, Jamie honey. We're all finished."

Melanie and I looked at each other and breathed a sigh of relief.

Jared ran toward us from his watch station beside the door as Jamie was getting dressed, "Someone's coming. Hide!"

Two Healers and with two patients walked into the Full Body Heal room. We didn't have enough time to hide, they spotted us. Doc, Jared, and Melanie tied up the souls to keep them from following us.

We all ran from the room to escape the Healing facility before we were caught. The risk to get Burns a new host was too high.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"We have to get out of here now!" Jared said after he came back from checking the halls. "Be fast but be quiet."

We filed out after Jared, who led the way. I felt so much more vulnerable in front of the white walls of the healing center going out than I had when we snuck in.

As we hurried out, I looked to my right and saw Ian beside me, like he always was. Well, not exactly like always. I still couldn't comprehend why he did this. I looked away from what was not Burns and concentrated on being aware of my surroundings. Hopefully, we would not encounter anyone else.

We made our way out of the facility and began the hike to our vehicles, which were hidden.

Suddenly, a sound cracked through the air, shattering the silence of our escape. I automatically looked to Ian and froze at his look of horror staring back at me. Instinctively, I began to reach out towards him and felt a stabbing pain in my chest. _Ian's hurt! _I thought. The pain surprised me, bringing me to my knees. _Oh wait! That's me. Ian will be fine. _The last thing that I remembered was Ian's face glittering with Burn's soul staring at me. Then my world went black.

I awoke feeling like I was flying. Then the pain hit, nearly sending me back into the blackness.

"Ahhhh." I moaned.

"It's ok, Wanda. I have you." Comforted by Ian's voice I rested my head on his chest and tried to concentrate on the sound of his breathing as he ran carrying me. It was a relief to concentrate on him until I remembered that it was really Burns running with me grasped in his arms. I moaned again in a new agony.

"We're almost to the car," Doc said, "We lost the seekers."

"We should have brought her into the healing facility." Burns growled. It sounded like they were picking up on an argument that they had while I had been unconscious. It was strange to hear a soul sounding so irritated.

"I told you before, Burns, Wanda will be ok. We just have to get to the car and Doc can patch her up," Jared said.

"We were at a healing facility. They could have helped her!" Burns retorted.

"Now, Burns," Nate started, "You know that's not the way we do things. What's gotten into you?"

Burns just shook his head.

"Wanda knew the risks when she decided to come with us. She _will _be ok. Doc can fix her. Right, Doc?" Jared asked.

"She will be fine." Doc said after a moment's pause.

It felt like hours then suddenly, we had reached the vehicles.

A car light came on then I was gently lowered into the back seat of one of the cars. I heard Doc rummaging around in his bag and cans rattling as he pulled out some metal implements and the healing sprays. Doc was quiet for a moment and he looked me in the eyes and said, "Wanda, you were shot and a bullet is lodged in your shoulder. I have to remove it before sealing up the wound. We ran out of the No Pain. I'm sorry but this will hurt until I have removed the bullet and can seal it up."

"Just do it, Doc." I said.

Doc continued to look at me and then nodded to himself. "Ian, I mean Burns, hold Wanda down. Don't let her move until I have removed the bullet. I want this to go as quickly as possible to keep her pain to a minimum but I'm afraid she might start thrashing around."

I saw a look of fear on Ian's face, in response to whatever Burns was thinking. "I'll do it." Jared said as he gently elbowed Burns out of the way. Burns had a regretful look on his face as Doc cut away the cloth around the wound. _This is so confusing. Trying to keep two personalities separate, while looking at them in the same body is so difficult. This must be something of what Jamie and Jared had to deal with. _

I looked beyond Jared, at Ian's face trying to see him behind Burns' consciousness. As I felt Doc's gentle probing in my shoulder become a sharp jab, my world again turned to blackness.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

I awoke and found that my head was cradled in Burns' lap, in the same way that Ian would have done in this situation. I looked up and my eyes met his troubled eyes. His hands rested very lightly on my hair, it seemed as though he couldn't decide whether to run his fingers through it, as Ian would have done or to pull back and give us more distance, now that the danger had passed. I understood how confusing it was to have all of the emotional baggage of a human host especially when it was the strong, resistant kind like Melanie or Ian.

"What is Ian thinking?" I asked.

He seemed surprised by my question and answered, "Well, he was doing a lot of swearing up until this point. I think that I will take that as happiness." Burns chuckled.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"He was cursing at the Seekers for shooting you which was actually an improvement over him screaming your name, repeatedly. Which, I will take as he is finally accepting that you are ok. He regrets that he isn't here with you. He wishes that he had been the one to hold you while Doc was pulling out the bullet."

"Oh, Ian!" I hugged myself to his waist with the arm on my good side. I felt Ian's fingers tighten up on my head and Burns began to run his fingers through my hair, "Wanda, I'm sorry, I just couldn't do it."

I pulled back and tried to get up into a sitting position. My shoulder was still throbbing but I managed to sit up. I would have to remember not to be so casual about treating Ian's body as through I am interacting with Ian. I knew from experience that it was very confusing and distressing to both the resistant human host and the soul occupying the human's body to be treated as the same person. I looked back at Burns. He had a conflicted look on his face, as though he wasn't sure whether to be hurt or relieved. "It's ok, Burns. I don't expect you to be Ian."

"We're both relieved." Burns responded.

Doc turned around after seeing that I was sitting up, "Wanda, we're almost back to the hiding spot for the vehicles, near Jeb's cave. We all have to decide how we want to handle the information about Burns and Ian, particularly the information about the planned transfer of Burns to a new host. We have all decided that the decision should remain with you. Nate knows the plan to find Burns a new host but that might not be something that we want to share with the other humans. I don't see how we keep this a secret, though."

"I think that it might be safest to tell people as it comes up or as they ask but not to broadcast the plan to get Burns a new host. I'm not sure what the effects of sharing the information would be and I'm reluctant to share it with a bunch of people that we barely know, until we have had a chance to think through this further. It might also give some of them false hope that they can reclaim their loved ones who have been inserted with a soul. We already know that most of the humans do not awaken when the soul has been removed." I said. I looked at Burns and hoped that this would not be true of Ian.

"You know that won't be an issue with Ian," Burns quietly answered my unspoken thought. I nodded to myself, willing that to be true.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"Welcome back," Jeb smiled.

We walked down the tunnels, quietly. We all knew that we wouldn't stay for long. It would just be a quick regroup, while planning for another raid. We had to decide what to do about a host for Burns. They were planning to leave me behind, since I was wounded. I was desperately trying to figure out a way to be included. If we could get Burns a new host, it would make everyone feel better about the situation with Ian and it would be one less question that we would have to answer about transferring Burns from host to host. People were more likely to accept Burns in the host of a stranger than to accept seeing him in the host of someone that they knew or had met as a human.

"Ian!" Kyle yelled. We all stopped and looked at each other concerned. This moment was going to happen but we were still unprepared about how to handle it.

Kyle ran up to Ian to welcome him back and gasped, seeing the silvery reflection of Burns in Ian's eyes. "Wanda! What did you do to him! I'll kill you! We have to get out of here! We have to evacuate!" Apparently, we were back to Kyle's favored problem solving mechanism: Killing Wanda.

People began filing in, drawn by the sounds of the raised voices.

"No! Wait! This is Burns. Ian knew what he was doing. We had to do this. Ian will be ok. We just have to figure out what to do." Jared stepped in front of Burns and me and gave Kyle a meaningful look.

Kyle was furious, "Ian would never willingly do this! You gave him up!" He glared at me. His expression changed to confusion as he noticed that Burns was propping me up and I had a bandage around my shoulder that was seen through the large hole that Doc cut in my shirt. He finally understood Jared's look and his unspoken words, _We're going to find Burns a new host and get Ian back, _then asked more calmly "What happened?"

Some of the others from Burns and Nate's group heard the noise and came over to find out what was going on. One of the women walked up to Burns, taking Ian's hand and looking into his eyes. "Burns? Burns, is that you?" she asked.

"Yes, it's me, Rachael." Burns responded, with Ian's voice.

I turned my head away as she hugged him and started to sob. "Burns, why are you in this other host? What happened?"

Jared elbowed his way into the middle of the crowd. "We have news to tell everyone and we might as well gather everyone and tell them at once." Since we had been discovered, there was not going to be a quiet regroup and raid before anyone knew any better. Now everyone was going to know that Ian was being used as a host for Burns.


End file.
